Karla Welch MasterClass Review: A Worthy Styling Class?

I was hooked the moment I watched the Karla Welch MasterClass trailer.

Her words about dressing to elicit a reaction intrigued me. Calling the reaction ‘that’s fine’ a kiss of death was a brilliant move on her part. You immediately want to know more about styling.

I expected the class to provide a basic understanding of what goes into styling.

Did it meet or exceed my expectations? Let’s find out.

Who is Karla Welch? Why should you learn from her?

Karla Welch is a seasoned celebrity stylist with impressive clients like Justin Bieber, Lorde, Sara Paulson, Karlie Kloss, and more. Her clients feel that she has the natural ability to show their personality by selecting the right outfit and looks for them. They trust her with their image. That’s a pretty big reason to learn from her if you ask me.

What to Expect from Karla Welch Styling MasterClass?

Here is a master stylist willing to share her expertise through MasterClass. What exactly does that entail? For obvious reasons, the first thing you learn is why choosing the right outfit is important. Then the lessons show what inspires her, the styling process, how to become a stylist, and what a capsule wardrobe is. Put briefly, you can expect to get an idea of what a typical workday in a stylist’s life is like.

Fashion – A Way to Reinforce your Personality

Karla believes the clothes we wear tell the story of who we are. It’s a way of letting the world know our uniqueness. The right outfit can make you confident and powerful. So, her take on styling is that it is a way of letting your personality shine and emotionally preparing yourself. So far, so good. Let’s dive a little deeper.

What Does a Celebrity Stylist do?

Karla explains everything from choosing your clients to the end of the Big Day (the events). You learn what brainstorming to get the right look, negotiating with designers for their outfits, fitting the clients, and collaborating with the hair and make-up team is like. Karla also explains the importance of styling kits and what happens after the event ends. In short, a stylist pulls all the stops to make their client look and feel their best.

Finding Your Way In

According to Karla, you need to be willing to put in the required effort and be brave. You can start as any kind of stylist to break into the industry – editorial, personal, or wedding stylist. Her explanations take up a whole section, but the gist is this: find internships, become an assistant, and learn the craft. 

In short, begin an apprenticeship and build connections. Karla tells us how she solved the problem of finding Bieber a suit to meet the French President in minutes because of the years of experience and the connections she built.

Developing a Personal Style and Capsule Wardrobe

Karla’s advice for developing a personal style couldn’t be simpler. Try to imitate or emulate the styles you like. It’s trial and error from there. Another way to do this is to reorganize your closet. Her tips for doing that reminded me of how I organize my book collection. Clothes and books are entirely different, but the system’s core is similar.

She also provides various other techniques to develop your style. Thrift shopping, mood boards, and journaling are a few she explains a bit more. Once you figure out your style, creating a capsule wardrobe is less daunting. Karla shows us her capsule wardrobe (it is pretty much a set of versatile clothes that can be used for different occasions) to help us understand the process.

Karla also provides tips for packing to travel. She explains how a trench coat is fantastic for looking professional. Let me tell you something, she may love trench coats, but no one can pull it off like Castiel (the character). Misha (the actor) rocked that trench coat look for years.

Case Studies

The case studies are about three outfits: the Valentino dress Tracee Ellie Ross wore for the Emmys, the peach suit Justin Bieber danced around in the music video for the song Peaches, and the Le Smoking suit (basically about how women can rock in tuxedos and the variations they can try).

However, it simply isn’t as informative as one would expect. They merely give us a vague sense that we shouldn’t be afraid to try what may be considered weird outfits and build strong work relationships to pull in favors when necessary.

What I Liked

I liked how open Karla was in this class. And, the explanations as to how to plan outfits were helpful. Knowing that your outfit doesn’t have to be expensive to get the reaction you want is reassuring. The class guide offers interesting insights that weren’t explored in the class. I love that we get access to bonus content.

My Key Takeaways

• Choose outfits you feel comfortable in but don’t be afraid to take risks.
• Work hard and build authentic connections and relationships.
• Learn to deal with different clients and ensure they feel comfortable.
• Clothes don’t need to be expensive to make a statement.
• Collaboration should result in satisfaction for all parties involved.

Critical Analysis: What Works and What Could Improve?

The clarity of the lessons, the pace, and the engaging content are the strengths of this MasterClass. Unfortunately, the lack of depth, vague allusions to her work, and too much focus on her rather than her work prove detrimental to the class. I get that she has done a wonderful job with her companies, but she should have explained more in detail about how we can get such ideas instead of making it look like she is promoting her business.

Karla Welch MasterClass Cost

You can access Karla Welch styling masterclass with an active MasterClass membership plan.

MasterClass membership plans allow you to watch all content (classes) in the platform. You can’t subscribe to one class alone or buy it.

The Standard plan costs $120/year, the Plus plan $180/year, and the Premium plan $240/year. All of them are billed annually.

The benefits are the same except that the Standard plan doesn’t provide offline access and you can watch only on one device at a time. The Plus and Premium plans allow you to use 2 and 6 devices simultaneously.

Curious if this membership is worth the investment?

Check out my detailed MasterClass review to find out if it’s the perfect fit for your learning goals.

Final Verdict: Is Karla Welch Styling MasterClass Worth It?

If you are trying to understand how to dress more stylishly or upgrade your wardrobe, the Karla Welch Masterclass is worth it.

However, other lessons on MasterClass/other platforms would be better if you want to gain the knowledge required to become a successful stylist. This class doesn’t provide in-depth knowledge even on personal styling.

FAQs

1. Is Karla Welch MasterClass free?
No, it isn’t. MasterClass doesn’t have any free classes. Instead, subscribing to one of its plans grants access to all classes on the site. As new ones are added frequently, you won’t run out of lessons to explore.

2. How long is the MasterClass Karla Welch Teaches Building And Owning Your Personal Style?Karla Welch’s class is 1 hour and 20 minutes long with 8 crisp lessons. They can be easily fit into your busy schedules.

3. Can I download Karla Welch MasterClass?
Yes, you can download any or all the lessons of this class if you have a Plus or Premium subscription. The downloaded content is available in the app’s ‘My Downloads’ section and can be accessed as long as your subscription is active.

4. What other MasterClasses similar to the Karla Welch class are available?
Laura Kim & Fernando Garcia’s Creative Collaboration and Fashion, Jen Atkin’s Style Your Own Hair For Any Occasion, Tan France’s Style for Everyone, and Bobbi Brown’s Makeup and Beauty are fantastic classes to explore.